Macbeth

Author

File Description

dave_earl

Posted on 02/19/06 @ 04:42 AM (updated 03/21/06)

File Details

Version:

The Conquerors 1.0c

Style:

Build and Destroy

Number of scenarios:

4

Scotland, 1039:

The kingdom was in turmoil. Rebellion raged across the land. King Duncan relied upon his two generals, Macbeth and Banquo, to quell the uprisings and maintain order in the nation. But Macbeth, having heard rumour of a prophecy, had his own plans.

Few characters have caught the popular imagination like Macbeth. Was he a conniving rogue, as Shakespeare would argue, or one of the nation's greatest kings, as some Scots nationalists have recently argued? Spanning four scenarios, the Macbeth campaign may help you decide.

Follow the career of Brother Gregory, a young Franciscan friar who witnessed the events first-hand. Experience game-play elements including

Over 160 custom sound files,

Two avis,

Custom bitmaps,

Very realistic maps,

Gripping gameplay,

Over twenty custom ais,

All difficulty levels supported,

A comprehensive history section,

The full text of Shakespeare's play, and

A total file size of less than 5MB.

Some comments from respected scenario designers who've viewed the campaign:

"It's a very enjoyable campaign. There's no doubt that this will be in the Best of the Blacksmith." Stephen_Richards, winner of the 2005 Age of Kings Heaven's "Historical Campaign Contest"

"The game was perfectly balanced for a casual player... This is simply as good as b&d gets in my humble opinion" Oliver, author of 'Lightning and Thunder, the teaser" (5.0 at the Blacksmith) and 'Teuton in Love" (4.8 at the Blacksmith)

"Good luck on your project too, it looks promising to be one of the 'greats' released this year" Mashek331, author of "The Feud Between Two Kindoms" (4.8 at the Blacksmith).

I hope you enjoy Macbeth

Cheers, Dave_Earl

Version 1.01: Non-critical update. Cheat function updated in Scenario 1 to prevent players inadvertently winning. Some grammar and spelling errors in about.html and Scenario 1 victory screen.Version 1.10: Recommended for beginner players who are struggling on "Standard" difficulty. "Standard" difficulty made significantly easier. The computer now attacks less frequently, attacks with less troops, and builds fewer troops to defend in seige-type scenarios. Some small bugs on level three (training villagers at the barracks and a cliff graphics issue) are fixed. Some other small modifications.

Very enjoyable campaign! Impressive map design, the sound files are awesome.Quite a challenge, as I got defeated first(edit: fifth time) time. The custom Ais rock. Very well designed cities. Like Oliver said "About as good Build and Destroy gets". I heartily recommend this campaign to all B&D lovers. This is up there with 'Gyda's Challenge. Possibly the best Build and Destroy ever released.

Edit: I heartily recommend this campaign for all Aok TC players.
Excellent work Dave!

[Edited on 02/25/06 @ 12:48 AM]

steffenlaursen

Posted on 02/22/06 @ 03:10 PM

I played the first scenario... very impressive! The MacDowland AI works extremely well, and his city is very well built. It took me 5-6 reloads to get through. Stupid heroes kept dying, though it helped getting the monk stuck away in the castle. Quite a challenge (especially if you compare to some of the ES-campaigns ;) ).

This is no doubt one of the best campaigns I've ever downloaded. I'd even go as far as saying it's THE best, at least the one most after my taste.

As I said, I only played the first scenario yet, but I, too, recommend this to anyone.

Nice map design, not boasting, but naturally neat. One of the best maps I've seen.

Thank you very much!

Super_Cell_51

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 12:46 AM

Hey Dave, where are the Ais?

dave_earlFile Author

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 01:34 AM

@ Stephen Laurenson & Super_Cell_51: Thanks very much for the kind comments. I hope everyone who goes to the trouble of downloading Macbeth enjoys it!

@ Super_Cell_51: When scenarios are saved to a .cpx file the associated AI's are included in the .cpx. Thus there is no need to include them seperately.

I can't imagine what you'd want with the actual AI files from Macbeth as they have been customised for the specific scenarios and won't really work anywhere else.

However, should you want to extract them, I've heard a rumour (though I haven't tried it) that you can extract AIs using DiGiT's "Trigger Studio" (www.digitization.org/aokts.html). You'll probably need to first extract the scenarios from the .cpx using Lloyd Kinsella's "Campaign Manager" (http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5613).

My advice is to not bother extracting the Macbeth files, but take a look at Beserker Jerker's excellent "The AI Tutorial for Scenario Designers" at the Tsuniversity (http://www.tsuniversity.com/articlepreview.php?133). Follow this up by visiting the SD forums at Heavengames and "AI Scripters" (http://www.aiscripters.com). The "CPSB.doc" included in the game disc is also invaluable.

Hope I've helped,

Dave.

Tanneur99Official Reviewer

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 05:45 AM

AI files do not save in a .cpx, they save in the .scx file, and the same applies for the bmp.

The .cpx file serves to put the .scx files of a campaign in the wanted sequence to play.

On a side note, one-scenario campaigns serve to reduce five difficulty levels to three and use more space.

Super_Cell_51

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 11:52 AM

No, I didn't want to use them, because it wouldn't apply to my campaign, as you said. But I noticed that and I was wondering why you said 'over twenty custom ai's, when I couldn't find any. But, I did want to take a look at them, as I am an amateur ai scripter(not very good at it though). Pretty powerful ais, if you ask me. In the first scenario, when the longboats attack you, I noticed that if you try to convert them, they back up to lure you into their range(is that what set-difficulty-parameter ability-to-maintain-distance does?just wondering). Btw, did you script the ais yourself?

Oh, and EDIT: Now I know why it is so hard(you said it supported all difficulty levels), because I have it on moderate or hard(can't remember). Has anyone finished this campaign on hard?

[Edited on 02/25/06 @ 12:06 PM]

steffenlaursen

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 06:24 PM

Hmm... Went back for playing scen #2 today. Apparently, there is only one scenario?

Did I trigger some anti-cheat device? I got stuck at some point and typed... can't remember which, but got a "bad consciousness"-you're-gonna-regret-this-later feeling and reloaded. Or is it just my comp that is messed up as usually?

dave_earlFile Author

Posted on 02/25/06 @ 09:28 PM

Super_Cell_51 wrote:

"But I noticed that and I was wondering why you said 'over twenty custom ai's, when I couldn't find any."

Simply as a game-play element. I like to imagine that having several different ais in a scenario makes it more interesting to play. Having said that, most of the ais in the campaign are fundamentally similar. Nonetheless, I consider it a feature as so many campaigns are run using only the “Standard” ai, or a stock “Immobile ai”.

"In the first scenario, when the longboats attack you, I noticed that if you try to convert them, they back up to lure you into their range(is that what set-difficulty-parameter ability-to-maintain-distance does?just wondering)."

Yes. The "ability-to-maintain-distance" parameter sets the percentage change that missile units will try and back up and then shoot when attacked by an enemy. If set to 50, for example, there is a 50% chance that when attacked the ai's units will fall back to a safe distance when attacked.

"Btw, did you script the ais yourself?"

Yes.

"Has anyone finished this campaign on hard?"

Yes. When I started designing the scenario I was not aware that AoKTC reduced the difficulty levels to three. With AoK (and still with scenarios presented in a .scx/.scn format) the game supports "easiest", "easy", "moderate", "hard", and "hardest". .cpx files allow you to play on "standard" (="easiest"), "moderate" (="easy"), and "hard" (="moderate").

I've tested the game most often on .cpx "hard", and find it a challenge, which I like. I understand my play-testers, Oliver and Stephen, have tested most of the scenarios on .cpx "moderate" and "hard".

I deliberately made the .cpx "moderate" and "hard" difficulty levels quite challenging, as I assumed most players would have played through all the AoK and AokTC campaigns before attempting Macbeth. The .cpx "Standard" difficulty level is quite a bit easier than the other two, though some scenarios (for example number 2) could not have their difficulty levels in some areas significantly reduced due to structural/map design reasons.
Hard-core players can also extract the scenarios and play on the further two difficulty levels, which should truly be a challenge.

steffenlaursen wrote:

"Hmm... Went back for playing scen #2 today. Apparently, there is only one scenario?

Did I trigger some anti-cheat device? I got stuck at some point and typed... can't remember which, but got a "bad consciousness"-you're-gonna-regret-this-later feeling and reloaded. Or is it just my comp that is messed up as usually?"

No, there's no anti-cheating device. I believe that if people want or need to cheat then it's there choice.

There is more than one scenario in the campaign and I haven't heard of this problem from anyone else. Obviously, you need to have "won" each scenario before you can progress to the next one. That means you must have seen the big white "You are Victorious" message in the middle of the screen.

If you've won and for some reason the next scenario isn't showing up, I'd suggest using the "i r winner" cheat to declare victory for yourself. If that doesn't work I'd try re-installing the campaign file. To be honest, I'm not really sure what could be causing your problem.

In about.html, which is found in the "readme" directory of the zip file, there is a short "Strategy Guide". If you are going to cheat to win in Scenario 1, then I'd suggest having a quick read of that: there is an important cut-scene at the end of the scenario which should no be missed and will not be activated using the "i r winner" or "torpedoX" cheats.

On that note, I'd heartily recommend that anyone who is still having difficulty on "standard" difficulty read the hints in this section. But not until you've tried it a few times on your own!

Regards,

Dave.

steffenlaursen

Posted on 02/26/06 @ 06:17 AM

No idea what happened.

Saw the white letters, the cutscene, the achievements - everything. Tried to reinstall today and used the I R WINNER, same thing.

In the end, I extracted the scenarios with the Campaign Manager (yes, all 5 scenarioss were there) and put them in a new scenario except the first one. Quite a work-around, but at least it's working.

Now playing scenario #2 - looks good :)

oliver

Posted on 02/26/06 @ 07:21 AM

The bug you experienced steffenlaursen is well known and even occurred in Ulio. Sometimes even the "i r winner" cheat doesn't solve the problem. Exiting and re-entering the custom campaign screen, then using the "i r winner" cheat usually works for me.